About Me

I am a marriage and family therapist licensed in the state of California since 2014. I have been seeing clients in therapy since 2009 and have worked in a variety of settings. I am currently working in my own private practice where I see clients at my office in Roseville. I also work with clients throughout the greater Sacramento area and all across California through Zoom and phone sessions.

My approach to therapy is very personal, genuine, and open. There have been studies in the past that have shown that the most healing factor of any therapy tends to be the relationship between the client and therapist. I do my best to be a real person. Some therapists are stiff professionals. That’s not me. If you’re looking for a warm, supportive, caring environment to work on your issues, I’m your person. ^_^

I help people with a variety of issues, but I specialize in:

Addiction Counseling
Codependency counseling
Couples therapy
Teen counseling
LGBT counseling
Polyamory & sex positive therapy

I pretty much specialize in working with anyone who is used to being or expects to be judged by others. If you’ve got something going on that you think people will judge you for, come see me, I’m very open, welcoming, and not judgy ^_^.

Education

Advanced training (core skills) in emotionally focused couples therapy (2016)
Externship in emotionally focused couples therapy (2015)
MA in counseling psychology – California State University, Sacramento CSUS (2012)
BA in psychology – (CSUS) (2008)

Counseling and Therapy Experience

-2023 group facilitator for The Landing Spot – a support group for trans and gender non-conforming teens and their families.
-Private Practice (2014 – current).
-Heritage Oaks Hospital (2014 – 2015) – Group facilitator / intake clinician.
-Hearts and Hands Counseling (2011-2014) – Counseling and therapy for individuals, families, couples, adolescents, and groups.
-Aegis Medical Systems (2010-2011) – Counseling for people addicted to heroin and other opiates.
-Psychological services center- CSUS (2009-2010) – Family and individual counseling and therapy.

Presentations

2021 – Provided a training on gender issues for large national corporation.
2020 – Guest speaker talking about gender issues to college class at Brandman University.
2018 – Provided therapists in the greater Sacramento area with a training on how to work with trans and gender non-conforming clients.
2018 – Sat on a panel answering questions about careers in psychology from students – CSUS Psychology Society.
2014 – Guest speaker at Heald college.

Why I’m A Therapist

Many people ask me what motivated me to become a therapist. Sometimes I give the simple answer that my parents are therapists. The long version is that I really appreciate and value genuine human connection. We tend to think of reality as a static something that is perceived similarly by all people. Reality is subjective and differs between people. In talking with people in therapy I get to sit with them in their deepest, most authentic selves and help them explore their own subjective realities. It’s the most rewarding work I can think of doing.

SacWellness

-A crazy thing I did in the pandemic-

Between 2018 and 2023 I worked on creating a website to help people find mental health resources in the greater Sacramento area. The following are news and other publications related to SacWellness.

Interview with the founders of ListingPro, the program SacWellness was built with.

Sacramento News and Review – interview done in late December 2018

Growing Up Roseville magazine – Article in the Spring 2019 issue

Some online radio station

I was contacted by a random online radio station to do a short interview with them. I thought it went pretty well….for my first time on radio, but afterwards they called me back and it sounded like they were looking at this as a way to screen for people who might be interested in paying to have their own radio series. Decided against it, but it was fun to do ^_^.

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